Car Bomb Kills Outspoken Critic Of Syria In Lebanon

June 22, 2005|By Megan K. Stack and Rania Abouzeid Los Angeles Times

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Anti-Syria critic and former Communist Party leader George Hawi was assassinated Tuesday morning by a bomb attached to the underside of his Mercedes, just days after Lebanon elected its first legislature independent of Syrian control in decades.

Hawi joins a growing string of Syria opponents killed or injured by car bombs in recent months. Tuesday's blast was similar to the bombing that killed prominent anti-Syria journalist Samir Kassir earlier this month.

Syria, which until recently kept thousands of troops in Lebanon and wielded control here, denounced the attack on Hawi. But politicians who have reported ongoing Syrian meddling were quick to blame Damascus and its remaining proxies in the Lebanese government for Tuesday's attack.

"It's the Lebanese security system, the remnants; the [Syrian] tutelage," said Farouk Dahrouj, who was also a leader of the Communist Party, told New TV.

Hawi, 65, was driving about 10 a.m. on a small West Beirut side street lined with shops when a bomb planted beneath the passenger seat of his car was detonated. Hawi's wife dashed into the street from her nearby ophthalmology clinic, reached the scene of the bombing and fainted. His driver was wounded, bloodied and hysterical. He struggled to pull Hawi from the car and screamed his name.

The attack brought a fresh sense of despair to Lebanon, where political leaders have been struggling to rid the country of Syria's influence. Any cautious optimism generated by the elections has been washed out by this month's assassinations and a resurgence of sectarian tensions.

"It's an arbitrary killing. It's a vengeful killing," said Chibli Mallat, a Lebanese lawyer. "It's a message: `If you think that Lebanon is out of the woods and starting on a new era of democracy and independence, you're wrong. We're still here.'"

Tuesday's assassination also sharpened fears that Syrian agents or allies remain active inside Lebanon, blending into the scenery long after the April withdrawal of soldiers and the shuttering of Syrian intelligence offices.

Hawi was chief of the Lebanese Communist Party during the 15-year civil war that sputtered to an end in 1990. He was regarded as an ally to the Syrian regime during the 1980s, but had more recently become an outspoken critic of Syrian interference.